Manitoba Cow is Positive!

[grassfarmer]

bward, Here are some figures on the BSE findings in the UK "Because BSE is predominantly a disease of dairy cattle, a total of 81% of all cases are of dairy origin. 61% of all dairy herds have had at least one case, whereas only 16% of beef suckler herds have had a case. However, a large number of the beef suckler cases were born and probably infected in dairy herds, and subsequently brought into beef herds"
NOTE: "Beef suckler herds" are what we would call beef herds although in the UK many of these comprise Angus, hereford, limo and simmental x holstein cows - this is where the cases came from. Cases in purebred herds like Galloway, Angus or Charolais were very, very rare. The Luing breed never had a case of BSE.

[Willowcreek]

grassfarmer- I Did not mean it to sound anti-Canadian..The reason I mentioned the 20 years for Canada is that Canada has the oldest known case in N.A...And since the Canadian cattle industry has been tied into the US beef industry so deeply- anything that occurs in either country could upset the cart...

I assure you I am concerned about the US too- and that is what brought it to mind... The new findings on the US "atypical" BSE is showing that it is much more like what is found in the sporadic CJD-- and some Doctors are now suggesting that more studies need to be done to see if or what the connection is between TSE's and CJD and even possibly Alzheimers....

I guess its just the 30 years I spent in public safety and as a Coroner coming out in me- that coupled with the fact that the USDA refuses to have any of their decisions examined and have vigorously fought against any oversight makes their actions dubious..

I really think it is something the industry in both countries should be preparing for- and that more effort needs to be put looking at the longterm effect to the industry...

Not sure about Canada- but in the US we seldom do enough proactively- but when something occurs we react and usually overreact...That is my fear if/when the first case of vCJD appears....